Chapter 8 - SISTERS
“MARISOL!”
Elena ran into traffic.
A horn blasted.
A car slammed on its brakes.
Kim shouted behind her.
“Elena!”
Marisol turned.
For one second, their eyes met.
Then Marisol ran.
Elena chased her into an alley.
“You coward!”
Marisol slipped on wet pavement.
Caught herself.
Kept running.
Elena grabbed the back of her coat near a loading dock.
Marisol spun and slapped her.
Elena froze.
Marisol froze too.
Neither sister moved.
Then Elena hit her back.
Hard.
Marisol stumbled.
“You took my son!”
“I saved him!”
Elena lunged.
“What?”
Marisol raised both hands.
“I saved him.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Vanessa was supposed to place him somewhere safe.”
“With herself?”
“That wasn’t the plan!”
Elena shoved her against a wall.
“You took two million dollars.”
Marisol began crying.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
Footsteps approached.
Kim and two officers reached them.
Marisol panicked.
“No police.”
Elena laughed.
“You don’t get to make requests.”
Marisol grabbed her wrist.
“Elena, listen to me.”
Kim ordered:
“Hands where I can see them.”
Marisol whispered quickly.
“Matthew was going to expose them.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Marisol’s eyes were wild.
“They were going to kill you too.”
Elena went still.
“Who?”
“Horizon.”
“Who is Horizon?”
Marisol looked toward Kim.
“Not here.”
Kim stepped closer.
“You’re coming with us.”
Marisol shook her head.
“They have people in law enforcement.”
Kim’s expression hardened.
“Convenient.”
“I’m serious.”
“Hands behind your back.”
Marisol looked at Elena.
“Pierce didn’t kill Matthew.”
Elena froze.
“Who did?”
Marisol’s face crumpled.
“I did.”
Everything stopped.
Even the rain seemed quieter.
Elena stared at her sister.
“What?”
Marisol shook her head frantically.
“No, not like that.”
“What did you say?”
“I was driving the boat.”
Elena’s body went cold.
“He found out I was involved.”
Elena whispered:
“Involved in what?”
“I helped families get fake records.”
“Families?”
Marisol laughed bitterly.
“That’s what I told myself.”
She looked at Kim.
“People who couldn’t adopt legally.”
Elena’s stomach turned.
“You sold children.”
“I moved paperwork.”
“You sold children.”
Marisol screamed:
“I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HORIZON REALLY WAS!”
Elena slapped her again.
Kim grabbed Elena’s arm.
“Enough.”
Marisol sobbed.
“Matthew confronted me on the boat.”
Elena’s breath shook.
“He said he would turn me in.”
“What happened?”
“We fought.”
Marisol squeezed her eyes shut.
“He reached for the radio.”
“And?”
“I grabbed him.”
Elena whispered:
“And?”
“He fell.”
Marisol opened her eyes.
“He hit his head.”
Elena stepped backward.
“No.”
“I tried to pull him up.”
“You left him.”
“I panicked.”
“You left him in the water.”
“Elena…”
“You watched my husband drown?”
Marisol collapsed against the wall.
“I called Pierce.”
Elena stared.
“And he cleaned it up.”
Marisol nodded.
Then she whispered:
“But Matthew had already hidden the evidence.”
“The drive.”
“Yes.”
Elena’s chest heaved.
“So they took Mateo to force me to find it.”
Marisol looked at her.
“Not exactly.”
“What?”
“Mateo was the evidence.”
Elena frowned.
Marisol leaned closer.
“Matthew put something in Mateo’s medical record before he died.”
“What?”
“A code.”
Elena’s heart slowed.
“What kind of code?”
“The access key to every Horizon account.”
Kim stared.
“Where?”
Marisol whispered:
“In his genetic profile.”
Elena looked toward the police building.
Toward Mateo.
And suddenly understood why Horizon had never killed her son.
They needed him alive.
May you like
Then Marisol said:
“And now that the drive has been copied, they finally know how to extract it.”
